


Let's Play Ad Lib

by Crystalshard



Category: Tron (1982), Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Legacy (2010)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-23 13:18:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalshard/pseuds/Crystalshard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of AU Tron ficlets based on whatever random songs my MP3 player came up with. Rock star AU (with a Trance Remix Operational Node program), a Grid where Anon lived, a universe where the Users were evil, a familiar-sounding nightclub, and a world-weary soldier. Come meet them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ghost in the Sonic Machine

**Author's Note:**

> The song that inspired this was BWO's 'Sixteen Tons of Hardware'.

_Ready for tonight's gig?_ Sam typed. 

_Always,_ TRON replied promptly. _Systems, check. Sound, check. Lights, check._

Sam smiled at the screen. _Good. Playlist loaded?_

_With room for your usual improvisation,_ TRON replied dryly. 

"Hey Sam, last call for rehearsal!" Quorra called from outside the trailer. 

"Be right there!" he called back. _TRON -_

_I heard. Loading up in rehearsal mode._

_Thanks,_ Sam typed, before leaving the trailer. 

Quorra was waiting outside, talking into the throat mike she was wearing. ". . . yeah, he's here, we're on our way. Oh, it did? Great, we'll be ready when you are." She looked up at Sam and grinned, grabbing an arm and pulling him along towards the stage. "Running checks on TRON again? I know you promised Alan that you'd keep an eye on that software, but sometimes I think you talk to that music program like a person." 

"Well, he _is_ one," Sam parried. Then they were on stage, and there was no time for anything but the music. And over it all, the way that TRON blended the sound and the lights into something that transcended simple music.


	2. Turn the Pages Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by John Farnham's 'You're the Voice'.

And everywhere, there were whispers. Rumours of the silent, masked program who travelled from city to city, inspiring hope where there was despair, proving that the programs in power were only programs. Somehow inspiring the Resistance to stand together, bailing programs in trouble out of danger, vanishing into the alleys too quickly to be thanked. Never caught by Clu's forces, a data ghost never acknowledged in case official recognition made him a focus of hope. 

Of course, some said that it was only rumours. Some said that the original was dead and that these were copycats – because how could a program travel that fast between cities and colonies? 

But those who knew better understood his voiceless message. They didn't have to stay silent. They didn't have to be afraid.


	3. Like the World is Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written to the background of Ke$ha's 'We R Who We R'.

The power was thrilling, intoxicating, and Alan could sense that it was only a fraction of the power available to him as a User. There had to be a way of accessing it all, and as soon as he could, he was going to dig into what could really be done with computer code. Computer code had built the world he was standing on. He could see it stretch out in front of him, the outlines of a city vivid in his eyes, and high up in the tower Flynn had dubbed the 'Observation Tower, he realized that it was all his to play with. His, and Flynn's, and Lora's. 

Under his hands, the smooth, glossy black of the railing he was gripping shimmered under his hands and turned white as his will reached into the code and adjusted the variables. Amazing, gleeful, he experimented further, turning it gray and then to silver as he tweaked it a little more. 

"Hey, Alan! Got a program here who wants to meet you." 

Alan turned away from the railing, a smile crossing his face as he saw the pair who had just entered through the door. Flynn grinned smugly as a mirror of Alan's own face looked back in awe, and he nodded at the program he'd written. "Tron. It's good to meet you face to face," Alan said warmly. 

This was going to be _fun_.


	4. The Mirror Stares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With thanks to Earth, Wind & Fire and their song 'Boogie Wonderland'.

The bass thrum from the speakers downstairs vibrated under Clu's feet, a familiar and welcome background noise. _The Grid_ had been a failing disco when he'd taken it over from his brother, the vanished and unmourned (by Clu) Kevin Flynn, but years of careful management had turned it into the finest nightclub in the city. He knew without having to look that the floor was crowded with men and women desperate to lose themselves to the beat, and that his silent DJ, Rinzler, would give them what they wanted. With Castor as the MC, the line to get in frequently stretched out of the door and his bouncers found themselves having to turn away disappointed would-be patrons. 

"Sir?" came a nervous voice from behind him. 

"What is it, Jarvis?" Clu snapped, his mellow mood broken by the interruption of his general manager. 

"There's a man asking questions downstairs, sir. He calls himself Sam Flynn." 

Clu's face remained expressionless only through sheer force of will. He'd hoped that his wayward nephew would have given up the search for his missing father by now. "Hmm." He thought for a moment. "Tell me, Jarvis, how is that purchase coming along?" 

"Most of the board of the Entertainment Complete arcade chain is willing to sell, sir. However, the move is being blocked by Alan Bradley as Sam Flynn's voting proxy." 

Clu waved a dismissive hand. "Sooner or later, they'll sell. The only thing that could prevent it would be Sam going in to take over, and that's as likely as me stepping down." 

"Yes, sir," Jarvis agreed obediently.

Clu barked out a short, sharp laugh. "Tell the bartender I'll be down in a moment, and that I want her to keep Sam around until I get there. Let's see what he knows."

"Yes, sir."


	5. Journey's End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written to 'The Promise' by Tracy Chapman.

The roads were becoming familiar now, the trees green with a summer that he hadn't seen since he'd left in the army recruiting van three years ago. Tron caught his breath as Flynn's garage somehow popped up on the horizon, the old repair shop looking as if it had been freshly painted, and his hands clenched on the steering wheel of the battered old ex-army Jeep that he was driving. 

There was a dry sort of amusement at the thought that a scarred soldier was driving a rattletrap old vehicle, and Tron gritted his teeth and refused to think about it. There was no need to bring old war wounds to mind, even if many were mapped indelibly on his skin. He was home now. 

Home. _Home_ , and there was the post office that might have received his letters, if they'd got through the lines and back to this sleepy village. There were people on the open main street now, curious faces staring at the Jeep, and the occasional rumble of cars with smoother engines than his passing the other way. None of the faces were the one he was looking for, however, so Tron passed through without a word and turned off down a leafy dirt track. 

There were the marks of another vehicle's treads impressed on the earth down the trail, the ones heading for his destination newer than those coming out, and cold hope began to warm in his chest even as he realized that three years ago, he wouldn't have been able to tell which marks were fresher. 

There was a familiar truck parked outside the house that stood alone and welcoming at the end of the road, and Tron parked the growling Jeep next to it. A flicker of movement caught his eye as he opened the door, and he nearly fell out of the Jeep in his eagerness to greet the woman approaching at a run. 

He hadn't made it three steps before he was engulfed in a hug, the familiar scent of sun-warmed golden hair making him feel as if the years they'd waited for this had quietly dried up and floated away. He hugged her back tightly, tension that he'd forgotten he carried melting away in the reassurance of her presence. 

"I missed you, Tron," she said, pulling back a little to smile up at him. "I waited, just like I promised." 

Tron felt a smile tug at the scar that reached from ear to throat. "Yori. I came back."


End file.
